40 The Ottawa Naturalist. [May 



MEETINGS OF THE COUNCIL. 



The first meeting of the new Council was held in the library 

 of the Normal School, March 25th. The members present were: 

 The President, Misses Matthews, Ritchie and Jackson, and 

 Messrs. Attwood, Halkett, Eifrig, Gibson, Clarke, Macoun, 

 Lemieux and Gallup. Six new members were proposed and 

 elected. A communication was read from Mr. Charles Pollard, 

 Secretary of the Wild Flower Preservation Society of America, 

 offering to lecture here under the auspices of the Club. A com- 

 mittee was appointed to make arrangements for this lecture. 

 A proposal from the University of California to exchange the 

 publications of the University for The Ottawa Naturalist 

 was accepted. 



The Publishing, Excursion and Soiree Committees, leaders 

 in the various branches of the Club's work and an Editor and 

 Associate Editors were elected. A noteworthy characteristic 

 of the new Council is the number of new members, all of whom 

 have entered enthusiastically upon the work, and a successful 

 Club year is anticipated. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



The Editor, The Ottawa Naturalist, 



Dear Sir: -In your February issue a remarkable circum- 

 stance is recorded by Mr. Geo. A. Dunlop, adding a new accident 

 to the list of those which may befall a rufled grouse. 



This individual, apparently in sound health, was found with 

 its tail feathers frozen into the ice crust, under a bush. In the 

 winter they commonly sleep on the ground, entering snowdrifts 

 only in the coldest weather. It is absolutely certain that its tail 

 could not have been frozen down, had there not been at the 

 place some frozen liquid. This may have been produced by a 

 certain condition of the bird's bowels, or the sun's heat in such 

 a sheltered spot may have melted the snow, so that it was wet 

 when the bird went in, or finally, the bird's tail may have been 

 wet when it went to bed, and a frosty night completed the 

 dilemma. 



This you will remember is an accident of a class which happen 

 every year to the foxes in Alaska. They sit down on the wet 

 ice, thereby casting a shadow over it. In 15 or 20 minutes the 

 wet in the shadow has congealed, and the fox would be made 

 prisoner but that he tears himself violently away, leaving much 

 of his fur in the ice. The consequence is," that in the spring of 

 the year all the blue foxes have their buttocks more or less 

 denuded of fur. Ernest Thompson Seton. 



Cos Cob, Conn., March 22, 1907. 



